How To Hire A Virtual Assistant

While coaching my clients on time management, I find a lot of my clients are bogged down with detail tasks instead of working at a higher level in their career or business. So I decided to put together this “How to Hire a Virtual Assistant” article and video to help them learn how to pass these tasks to a virtual assistant (VA) so they were free to work on more important things.

How Does a Virtual Assistant Help?

A VA helps by

Taking over your simple, detail tasks

Organizing your work

Giving you someone to delegate to

Freeing up your time

What Tasks Can a Virtual Assistant Do?

The list is nearly endless, but here are some tasks that are commonly assigned to virtual assistants.

Data entry

Bookkeeping

Scheduling

Travel arrangements

Research

Email management

Social media management

What Kind of Virtual Assistant Do I Need?

All virtual assistants aren’t the same. They have a wide range of skill sets. Here are some examples:

Executive Assistant – works like an executive assistant to an executive

Benefits of Multiple Virtual Assistants

Instead of hiring one full time virtual assistant, consider these benefits of hiring 2-3 part time VAs:

Different skill sets – while some skills overlap, hiring multiple VAs can give you access to additional skills

Emergency backups – if you rely on one VA for everything, your work grinds to a halt if they are ill or leave. If you have 2-3 VA’s, you can redistribute the work if one is unavailable.

Finding Tasks For Virtual Assistants

How do you find possible tasks for virtual assistants?

Monitor your own tasks and ask “could someone else be doing this?

Tag tasks that could be done by VA’s within your task management system

Create a list of potential tasks or search your tags

Consider some good “test” tasks for your new VA’s

Overseas Vs Local VA’s

Overseas can work from anywhere, so you can higher people local to your area or elsewhere in the world or a combination of both. Here are a few pros and cons of each type. Of course, these are generalizations and you may find exceptions to these.

Local

Higher rates

English/local language is their first language

Available to talk or make calls during your local business hours

May use more initiative

Overseas

Lower rates

English tends to be second language

Different time zones

Tend to just do what they are told – somewhat less initiative

Individuals Vs Team

You can hire either individual VAs or a team of VAs to work on your project. Here are some factors for each:

Where to Access Overseas VA’s

I do not recommend Freelancer.com as many freelancers report difficulty getting paid through the site.

VA Task Sites

These sites let you purchase a block of hours or tasks:

MyTasker – $120 for 10 hours ($12/hr)

Fancy Hands (US based) – starting at $30/month for 5 requests up to 20 minutes each ($6 per request or about $18/hr)

UAssistMe.co – starts at $269/mo for 20 hours (about $27/hour)

TimeEtc (US/UK) – $78/month for 3 hours work ($26/hour)

Hourly Rates Are Not Sole Criteria

A $3/hr virtual assistant who bills 20 hours on the task is more expensive than a $20/hr VA who bills 2 hours ($60 vs $40). Use tasks where you know how long they should take and use these as test tasks to make sure your VA is efficient and billing properly.

Testing Virtual Assistants

When I first hire VAs, I test them to make sure they are right for me. Here is my process.

Have a list of test tasks available

Assign similar tasks to multiple VA’s

See which VA’s

Are most responsive

Give best output for the price
(quality and quantity)

Virtual Assistant Communication Tips

It is key to communicate tasks clearly and followup. Here are some techniques I use:

Clear instructions, checklists, video how-to’s

Regular check-in (check after first 1-2 hours of work)

Use video and screenshots when you delegate

A good task management system is key because you can see at a glance how your team is doing

Fire Virtual Assistants Quickly

When they don’t work out, stop sending them tasks and reassign the tasks to the others you’ve tested. End their contract quickly so they can’t bill any more hours and change any password accesses they have immediately.

How To Hire A Virtual Assistant Summary

Create list of tasks a Virtual Assistant (VA) could do

Decide what kinds of VAs you need

Create and list job postings

Test VAs

Clear communication & follow-up

Quickly fire ones that don’t work

Give more hours to successful virtual assistants

I hope you enjoyed this article and video. If you found it useful, please share “How to Hire a Virtual Assistant” with others and post on social media as this is how I can help more people.